Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Teacher Built a 9000 Monthly Side Hustle in Curriculum Design
Transcript
- Lucas: So a middle school science teacher in Ohio named Jenna is now pulling in nine thousand dollars a month from curriculum design. And she did it without quitting her day job. Luna: I love that. Nine thousand a month from writing lesson plans. How long did it take her to get there? Lucas: About seven months from her first sale. But the path wasn't linear. She started on Teachers Pay Teachers — you know, that marketplace where educators sell original resources. She uploaded a few unit plans for middle school science. And for the first three months she was making maybe three hundred dollars a month. Luna: That's a nice side income, but nine thousand is a different league. What changed? Lucas: Right. What changed was she realized the micro-transaction model — selling a five-dollar worksheet a hundred times — has a ceiling. So she pivoted to B2B. She landed a contract with a small edtech startup that needed Next Generation Science Standards-aligned modules for their platform. That contract alone paid her four thousand a month. Luna: And she's still teaching full-time? How does she manage the workload? Lucas: That's the part I found most interesting. She blocks out Sunday afternoons and two evenings a week. She told me she treats it like a second job with fixed hours — no answering emails at midnight. And she uses her own classroom as a testing ground. If a lesson flops with her students, she revises it before selling it. Luna: That's smart. Real-world validation. And it probably makes her a better teacher too. Lucas: Yeah, she said the side hustle actually improved her day job. She became more intentional about lesson design because she knew it had commercial value. That's a nice feedback loop. Luna: If we've helped you think through a career move or a side hustle idea, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. We keep it ad-free, and listener contributions make that possible. Lucas: Yeah, it helps us keep doing deep dives like this one. Appreciate it. So back to Jenna — she now has three revenue streams. The Teachers Pay Teachers store still brings in about two thousand a month passively. The edtech contract is four thousand. And she's started doing consulting for school districts that are piloting new science standards — that's another three thousand. Luna: Consulting for districts? What does that look like in practice? Lucas: She goes in for a two-day workshop, helps their science department map their existing curriculum to the new standards, identifies gaps, and writes a scope and sequence. She charges three thousand per district engagement, and she's doing about one a month. Luna: So she's essentially a freelance curriculum director. And the districts are happy because they don't have to hire a full-time person. Lucas: Exactly. And the timing is good — more than twenty states have adopted new science standards in the last five years. There's a real demand for people who understand both the classroom reality and the standards document. Luna: What about intellectual property? If she's writing modules for an edtech startup, who owns that content? Lucas: Great question. She negotiated a non-exclusive license. The startup gets to use the modules in their platform, but she retains the right to sell them elsewhere. That was critical because it lets her keep her Teachers Pay Teachers store running. If she'd signed an exclusive deal, she'd have to take those units down. Luna: So the legal side matters as much as the creative side. What advice does she have for other teachers thinking about this? Lucas: She says start with what you already have. Don't create from scratch. Take your best unit, polish it, format it nicely, and put it up. See if there's demand. Then iterate. And she emphasizes checking your employment contract — some school districts claim ownership of materials you create, even on your own time. Luna: That's a real risk. Did she have any issues with her district? Lucas: She checked her contract and it only covered materials created using school resources or during school hours. She does all her side hustle work on her personal laptop at home, so she was in the clear. But she said many teachers don't realize their contract might be more restrictive. Luna: Good reminder. So what's next for Jenna? Is she planning to go full-time with this? Lucas: She's considering it. Her goal is to replace her teaching salary completely within two years. But she's in no rush. She likes the classroom. The side hustle gives her financial breathing room and a creative outlet. She says it's actually made her enjoy teaching more because she doesn't feel trapped. Luna: That's the dream, right? A side hustle that not only brings in money but makes your day job better. Lucas: Yeah. And I think the lesson here isn't just for teachers. Anyone with deep expertise in a niche — whether it's curriculum design, medical coding, whatever — can follow a similar playbook. Start with small transactions to validate demand, then move up to B2B contracts. And always keep your IP rights.